Bubbles coming off oak chips in secondary

[Brett_Bellmore]

Is this a normal thing, just air escaping from the pores in the chips, or should I assume fermentation wasn't quite over? I've never used oak before.

'Cause if it isn't, I've got a couple of bombs to disarm.

The bottle without chips is just sitting there doing nothing. I popped the cap on one of the beer bottles, and, again, nothing.

 

[bernardsmith]

Check out the meaning of "nucleation". My guess is that the rough surface and texture of the wood is causing CO2 to nucleate and when the gas gathers and collects it has more energy than when each molecule was separate. This energy allows the gas then to leave the liquid and you see it as bubbles forming. Bottom line: your mead was/is saturated with CO2 because you had not degassed it or degassed it effectively.

 

[Maylar]

In other words... it's fine.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

Glad to hear it.

 

[footballbrewer]

You will also sometimes see an affect with fruit / other additions where the float up then sink then float up again. Same principle.